I PROTEST

And WHY I chose to register my protest…

President Obama’s decision to address public school children in grades K through 12 across the nation, on September 8, 2009, which happens to be the first day of school for many schools, has created a raging storm of controversy.

As a parent of kids who would likely be part of the captive audience that would be made to listen to the speech, the first thought that came to my mind last week as I heard it for the first time, was anger. My reasons were quite different than the superficial ones floated as reasons for the protests, by those either in support of the President or by those indifferent to the issue of the speech entirely. An attempt was made to make the issue seem like much was being made of something that was quite harmless at worst. Supporters obviously used the superficial reasons in hopes of pushing the opposition back. But what about the people (especially parents affected) that act like they are personally indifferent to the discussion and who would like to pretend that the issue is no big deal and would openly tell you "what is all the fuss you are making about"?

It is being made out by many in the media that the battle lines in the controversy have been drawn based on party lines of a Democratic President versus defeated Republicans or based on ideology of Conservatives versus Liberals.

The Democrat versus Republican argument goes as follows: the Democrats claim that the Republicans are protesting the broadcast because it is the President is a Democrat, but had this been a Republican President there would have been no such squeals from Republicans. For their part the Republicans push a similar argument stating that if this it had been a Republican President that had decided to give the speech to school children, the Democrats would have been up in arms challenging the idea.

Neither side has dared to raise the issue to the level of a discussion in terms of fundamental principles.

A discussion in terms of principles would bring the debate to the fundamental question at issue here: in a free country should the President be overreaching his office to such an extent that he literally is taking on the paternal role of parenting to our kids? Since we may not be permitted to evade the fact that in a free society, government is the agent of the right of each of its individual citizens of the use of force to protect our individual rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, what does this action on the part of the President and those that have advised him, say of their view of the nature of government? It is surely not the one of freedom and liberty.

The other superficial reason peddled in an attempt to make protests seem ridiculous is that there are parents afraid that their children will be indoctrinated. At dinner the other night, I heard the synopsis of this particular argument from a parent of the indifferent variety. He tried to tell me that children are exposed to and hear all kinds of things in school and children should be able to critically hear different viewpoints and then make up their own minds. The inference to be drawn is that even if one did not agree with what the President had to say, no great harm could come to one’s child from listening to this broadcast. In fact, by this logic, the very opposite would be true, since as a parent I would be robbing my child of an opportunity of critically listening and then either accepting or rejecting what the President is saying –thus missing out on an opportunity to sharpen her critical skills!

But no, I am not afraid that my kids will get indoctrinated. The most basic reason I can come up with for this confidence is that as I read a teacher say, the kids will probably have their eyes glazed over after a couple of minutes into the speech, through utter boredom! But on a more serious note, even the acceptance of ideas in the absence of any proof or facts needs the consent of the mind to be indoctrinated as well. I have the utmost respect for the volitional nature of man's mind (even a child's at his level of knowledge and understanding) -the one fundamental area that a thinking man cannot be controlled is his mind. Therefore propaganda or indoctrination efforts are inconsequential. I hope that my children are able to make enough independent observations that would question the acceptance of anything on faith. And, of course my hope is that as a rational parent, I have inculcated enough of the inquisitive, questioning minds in them, that will not blindly accept anything, even if that comes from the authority of the President.

My protest is quite simply, because I am quite tired and fed up of making myself and my kids the guinea pigs of whatever new experiments the public schools can come up with, and force it on me. The latest President speech debate simply helped my resolve to speak out, that is all.

The public education of government monopoly has left concerned parents like me few choices to compare curriculum, teaching methods, school discipline, and finding a fit for our family’s logistical needs, as we get bull dozed into a one shoe fits all of an public education system that fails parents and students wholesale. The government monopoly has driven the wide range of private schools that surely would have been mushrooming all over, and I could easily have found one that would a good match for our family.

My family has been forced last year to have my kids on different school year schedules. This year I have been forced to put my daughter in a magnet school to be bussed and extend her day by over three hours because of the additional commute. Why? Because the school district gives huge funding to downtown schools so that suburban parents like me would apply to the school and bring about racial diversity at the school - their mouthed goal. The real reason is to support the student average scores of what would otherwise be failing schools. We have also been slammed this year by a changed start and end time schedule to accommodate an early release of students on every Wednesdays –some silly reason was given I am sure but who wants to remember? And to hell with working parents who have to now make arrangements for this latest steam rolling.

My protest is no longer against the single event of the President’s speech this morning. I want to take control of my children’s education back from the government -it has no business there. What I am demanding is TAX CREDITS to be able to send my children (and all other like minded parents across the country who would like the same choice) to a school of my choice as a first step to free education from the government stranglehold. I am demanding that the government give me back the tax dollars it loots from me so that I can afford to send my children to private schools of my choice.

As a parent I stand up to protest and fight for my individual rights. I have chosen not to remain silent anymore. I will ask other parents to stand with me in this fight to save our children.

Enough is Enough.